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Susan Montgomery loves to write stories, make art, and play the ukulele. She loves to practice all different songs and styles of music. She loves playing with friends in her local ukulele club, too. Susan has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education and lives in Bowling Green, Ohio with her sassy tuxedo cat, Tracey. She is passionate about creating books about the ukulele for children.
Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
“Life sounds sweeter with music.” I love this opening line to Susan Montgomery’s Ukulele Practice Time. So very true! But sometimes making music isn’t as easy as we’d like it to be. We need to be patient, to persevere, and to practice, practice, practice. That’s what Sammy the Seahorse has to learn. He’s trying to learn a new song on his ukulele, but he gets to a difficult part where he doesn’t know the notes and he’s frustrated because he can’t make his fingers work the way they should. With the help of Peter the Pufferfish, the sea world’s music teacher, Sammy learns the new notes on his ukulele and he practices every day until it sounds just right. Then he performs for his friend and learns a very valuable lesson: “Sharing music is fun.”
Susan Montgomery’s picture book, Ukulele Practice Time: A Strumming Seahorse Story, is a clever introduction to music, the ukulele, and a strumming seahorse with a passion for music. The story is told in simple language so young readers can easily follow along. There’s lots of dialogue which makes the reading lighter. As young readers enjoy Sammy’s story, they’ll also learn about the ukulele and how to play some simple chords. At the end of the story, the author includes the song that Sammy was learning to play along with instructions on how to play the different chords and where in the music these chords are needed. This is a great way to stress the importance of perseverance and how practice really does make things a little more perfect.
